Will XBOX work without the internet?

No. You need the internet for a day 1 update.

Afterward you can put the console into offline mode but only certain games support offline mode.

If this friend can afford an Xbox One, he should be able to afford basic internet. Just saying.

Heya SpheredEmu27117!

Sorry to hear about the blu-ray app trouble. To check, have you been able to connect recently to make sure the app has the most recent update? If not, please give that a go. Keep us in the loop with how it goes!

It didn't work. Anyone else having the same issue if they boot up the Xbox One without internet?

Take to your friends house more often. Plug in and play real board games while it updates. I can understand having to pick and choose cable/internet/phone bundle when money is tight.

You actually got your life support when MS reversed its policies and actually allowed people who are offline to play the console.

As far as the achievements, they are synced to the Cloud. You can only accumulate so many offline achievements before you'll be required to connect online and "unlock" them. This was done to cut down on the amount of gamerscore cheaters that were present
on the Xbox 360.

Lastly, and not to sound jerk-ish, but it's 2015.... according to the UN, Internet access is a human right. To me, personally, having Internet access in my house would trump owning a 400 dollar video game console every time.